The Shadow Garden
by IamTerra
Summary: Calmly working in his own secret garden, Marluxia is unaware of the danger that is quickly approaching him. The Graceful Assassin will get a taste of the Cloaked Schemer's true power that is much worse then death. A MarZex story


Dark forces were at work, so dark you could hardly see it but definably sense it as deep hues of purple and blue smoke rolled across the cold ground like air spewing out of a freezer, rolling over itself and still moving forwards.

Something was terribly wrong with the scene though Marluxia tended to his work and attempted to ignore the suspicious dread in his chest. After all, no one was stupid enough to just wonder into his garden just like no one was smart enough to find it but him. So he chose to ignore it, his plants would tend to whatever the intruder was and dispose of it with swift discretion.

This was a mistake on his part for the darkness coming after him was now twisting into a new shape, taking on the form of knotted vines which the plants in the assassin's garden didn't dare attack for they knew the wrath of their master would be great for attempting to choke out the new flora as they had witness a few times when he introduced a new member into their leafy family.

It was a true pity that Marluxia had trained them so well to be obedient to his will that they didn't weed out this ghastly invader of their home which suddenly split apart and went in separate directions to find its target. Weaving in and out of the virtual forest that was actually a garden, on the hunt for its master, dear XI.

A spindle of the disguised darkness spiraled itself up a tree and around a thick branch like it was a lookout guard though it was more like a sniper as it spotted the mass of rose colored hair and then the vines sudden turn to its direction. The vine in the tree began dissipating into thin air as its job was complete.

Though the vine on the ground was moving practically in dead silence, the graceful assassin spun around as he rose up out of his crouching position. Deep blue eyes darting back and forth as he couldn't dispose of this feeling of being put under watch.

Who was there? How did they get into his garden? Why were they after him and why hadn't his plants disposed of this pest?  
His skillful blue orbs finally came across a rustling of leaves not to far ahead of himself. Marluxia's eyes narrowed more as he prepared to summon his fierce scythe while the trembling of the bushes grew faintly louder and a rabbit hopped out of the bush the same time his scythe had appeared into his hand.

"Atticus, you snot. Aren't you supposed to be in the pin?" He asked while he was about to bend down and pick up the furry little rabbit only to jump flip backwards as a thick vine jutted out of a shrub from his left, narrowly missing him. The rabbit, needless to say, took off running at the sudden movements.

More of the tainted vines thrusted out of the surrounding plant life and were evaded by several precise swings of his blade and a carefully played sidestep. To his surprise though, the vines that were cut didn't leave any evidence of having been there. Instead, they simply vanished in a fog like mist. But that could only mean, yes, his suspicion was confirmed when out of the shadows come a small figure.

"Zexion," the elder of the two spoke distastefully. "Why are you here destroying my peace and quiet? Have you nothing better to do?" A smug smirk started to fan out over the pink haired names face.

"As if being an assassin can allow you a moment of peace. Don't you ever think back over all the people you've condemned to death or do they all haunt your sleep at night?" It was a queer question, thought Marluxia as the smaller male stepped further out into the light. "Or is it those still living that haunt you?"

"What are you babbling about?" he asked confused and more then willing to dispose of this louse in his garden. "Perhaps you've gone mad from being cooped up with Vexen and Lexeaus for so long."

That notion seemed to have hit a sour spot with the cloaked schemer as his eyes narrowed, one clearly viable, and the other mostly hidden behind a waterfall of dark hair.

Without a word, the smaller of the two dropped his head in what looked like defeat which put a wider smirk on the assassin's face until he noticed something. Slowly the other male drew his head back up, his eyes still narrowed down in simulated anger as his lips moved in a silent language.

What was he doing? Maybe Marluxia had been right when he called the other mad, or at least he was proving himself that way till a bright light flashed before his very eyes, blinding his vision for a moment and a book now hung in the air.

This was a dangerous sign. Marluxia knew so as he held onto his scythe with both hands now and prepared to attack as his vision came slowly but surly back to him. Book pages flipped producing a soft noise like butterfly wings till the pages stopped moving about two thirds into the books contents.

"Yar dos da," Zexion purred coldly once the pages stopped turning and a new flash of light charged at Marluxia. No, not light, it was pure darkness but still as blinding as the pure white light had been.

It didn't make much sense to the eleventh member. There had to be some reason Zexion was attacking him and acting like a freaking strobe light! But what was it? Had it something to do with what he said about those he had killed haunting him?

These thoughts were disrupted as his vision once again slowly returned to him though there was a new problem now. Zexion was no longer standing before him. Quickly spinning around weapon at hand, he soon began to realize that the little runt wasn't even there at all.

"Well that wasn't at all peculiar and completely unnecessary…" Marluxia muttered to himself sarcastically only to feel his very being freeze. Soft fluttering reached his ears as he craned his head upwards to the sky to see the horrid book of number VI floating directly above him.

Before another word could be said or another action done, the cursed black item descended with great speed, still wide open and nailed the other directly in the face and seemingly devoured his whole body within the hardback book. The scythe and the book itself were the only things left sitting on the ground in the middle of the garden. The book leaning ever gently against the base of where the blade and the handle met as if in perfect harmony though their owners were possibly now at war.

(This story is dedicated to Tori seeing as I had made it for her since this is her favorite pairing. However, I gave a shout out to another fiendish friend of mine who encouraged me to put this story up here rather then leave it to rot on Deviantart. Thank you. Ja ne...)


End file.
